Hello everyone, this seems like a really good place to discuss Anti-depressants here so I will :)

I'm 21 and I was severely depressed from age 16 - 19. When I was 19.5 I finally went to the doctor after life become to horrible. I was having nervous breakdowns 3+ times a day and I couldn't get more than 2 hours of sleep a day during the weekday. The depression was HUGE and caused me to be unable to have any real relationships with anyone during those 3.5 years of my life.

I started Effexor XR, 37.5 mg up to 112.5 mg. My life started as soon as I started Effexor :) No longer did the issues of depression affect me. I finally formed a relationship with someone who ended up cheating on me which sent me into a stooper. At this time, almost exactally a year ago, I upped to 150 mg on doctor's recommendation.

Now I'm here! However the side effects of Effexor have worsened as time has progressed. I sweat A LOT with it. If I were to change my shirt every time I had soaked arm pits, I'd need 6 shirts per day at least. I hate that a lot. I've become restless at night and I'm unable to sleep. Often my sleep goes from 10:00 - 1:00am then 7:00am to 12:00 am. Even though I'm tired I've been unable to sleep despite taking my pills as soon as I wake up. I also have been a little more 'stessed' out than usual. I'm often feeling anxious lately for NO reason what so ever. There's also the sexual side effects. Orgasms aren't much fun, and my libido is shot, (But its hard to tell since depression also killed my libido). I think it's time to change medications to one that has less symptoms.

I've been researching a lot of Anti-depressants and I'm not sure which to pick.

There's Zoloft which has only 4 of the 11 symptoms I currently have.Paxil which has 6 of the 11 symptoms I currently have.Then Wellburtrin which I've heard good things about.

I know everyone reacts differently so it's extremely hard to gauge how each drug will affect me. But any experience, recomendations, or anything, especially about wellbutrin would be greatly appreciated.

I agree that you should definitely consult w/ your MD and give him those details about the sleep and sweating and anxiety.

From experience and observation of others, I strongly urge you to slooooowly get off of Effexor if that's what you decide to do. The "withdrawl" can be brutal, as I'm sure you've had hints of if you've forgotten a dose here and there. There's physical discomfort but also significant emotional discomfort that I would avoid.

Adding something to help with sleep is something I've seen done often and what I ended up having to do after being on only anti-depressant meds for a few years. We switched around to different anti-depressants, and eventually had to add a sleep aide. There's trazadone, ambien, lunesta and plenty others.

I don't know whether a general practitioner or a psychiatrist is rx your meds, but I recommend that someone see a specialist if they've had mental health problems for several years - when it's not a reactive depression, situationally induced.

If you are going from effexor to cymbalta, it might not be so hard, they are close cousins and that helps make the transition easier. I did go off of effexor once and had a really hard time, but I wasn't going on anything else. I felt good and thought I didn't need it anymore, boy was I wrong.

Hey that's funny! I was just prescribed cymbalta :) Me and my doctor looked at them and their both SSRI but cymbalta is also an SNRI, so dropping effexor shoulnd't be too horrible. I start tommorow 0 mg of effexor and 60 mg of cymbalta. Wish me luck :)

This has been EXTREMELY easy so far. 2 days have gone by, and only a couple withdrawal symptoms. Slightly irritable, no more than if I didn't have a coffee, I had a small headache, and I had a stomache ache which may have been caused by eating donuts :P

So far everything is going really good and I couldn't be happier with how the transition has been, I was really worried about having effexor withdrawal like I've had in the past, but nothing! If your on effexor and you have issues with it, I'd suggest you look into cymbalta :) If anything bad comes up I will post again, but otherwise assume I'm doing great!!

I am a firm believer in doing what it takes to get your depression under control.

Depression has no single cause; often, it results from a combination of things. You may have no idea why depression has struck you.

Whatever its cause, depression is not just a state of mind. It is related to physical changes in the brain, and connected to an imbalance of a type of chemical that carries signals in your brain and nerves. These chemicals are called neurotransmitters.

Some people go through situaltional depression which is usually triggered by an event in their lives, death of a loved on, divorce etc.

I have the depression that is connected to an imbalance of chemicals in the brain.

I take my meds and I also practice hard at controlling my feelings. I have accepted that this is a life time disorder and fighting the dx went by the way side for me years ago.

Others do exceptionally well with no meds . I would love to be one of them as I don't like taking meds either but each person is different.

Hi Anonymous, I can't give you any info on Wellbutrin but I can at least tell you my experience with a/d meds. It took 6 different meds before I found the one that has truly helped me. I take one called Remeron. The only side effect I ever had was when I first started it. It made me very sleepy, so I took it at night. I have been on it for about 6 years and am now starting to taper off slowly. But I can tell you it helped me tremendously. I believe it is an SSRI. Well, I just wanted to let you know how I did. Hope your new med works for you.